Oxford University have announced their squad for next week's Varsity match against Cambridge at Twickenham.

Experienced skipper John Carter returns to the starting XV after missing last year's match.

Making his Varsity debut alongside Carter in the Dark Blues pack is American Derek Asbun.

Carter told BBC Radio Oxford: "Derek has continued to impress with every game this season. He's been fantastic for us."

He added: "He's come in and he's a great athlete and his improvement in his technical game over the course of the season has been huge.

"I've no doubts about him starting."

We've got some electric players and we should be playing the kind of rugby people are going to want to watch

John Carter

Despite showing a lot of Varsity experience up front, it is a different case behind the scrum where wing Sean Morris, who played at centre last year, is the only player to have previously appeared in the fixture.

Hong Kong international Sebastian Perkins will move to the wing, while former Newbury centre Gavin Turner will play in midfield, but Carter says he is confident that he has a squad capable of retaining the title.

"I'm very excited, I pretty much got to choose from all of the players I wanted barring a couple of injuries," the former Sale man continued.

"We've got some electric players and we should be playing the kind of rugby people are going to want to watch."

The Varsity match takes place at Twickenham on December 8, kick off is 1400 GMT.